Sumlin on social media threats to players: ‘It’s a serious situation’

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Texas A&M head coach and Twitter user Kevin Sumlin said he’s a fan of social media and uses it to recruit, but also said it can be a dangerous tool used against young players.

“There’s so much going on right now with early commitments and everything around signing day,” the coach told The Jim Rome Show. “You have one fanbase that’s incredibly happy and being extremely positive with these guys and then you have another fanbase, or a couple fanbases, that are issuing death threats and posting pictures of shotguns and things like that. It may not seem that serious to the people that are doing it but I’ve seen these guys in tears. I’ve had parents that are concerned. It’s a serious situation.”

The 2012 SEC Coach of the Year isn’t quite sure how social media has gotten so ugly, but isn’t surprised about to see it with the popularity of college football on the rise.

“We’re in a really, really interesting time,” said Sumlin. “The NCAA just came out with figures, the highest attending year in college football history and it surpassed last year. So there’s a lot of exposure, there’s a lot of positive things that are going, particularly with college athletics and college football. But you have to take the good with the bad, and that same passion that a lot of fans have that is extremely positive, unfortunately there are a few people out there who take that passion the other way, at the expense of younger adults.”